‘THEY haven’t told us how long we are moving temporarily. They haven’t even told us whether they will demolish the block,’ Cisem Staines from the Tangmere Block, on Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, north London told News Line yesterday.
She was speaking about the alarming announcement by the London Borough of Haringey that tower blocks on the estate are at risk of a ‘catastrophic collapse’. 200 families are now to be ‘urgently moved’ out of the tower blocks for fear that they could collapse at any time. Tangmere House, a six-storey block, and Northholt, an 18-storey block, are the two towers worst affected. The letter tenants have been sent gives two options ‘To demolish Tangmere’ or to ‘Undertake strengthening work to your block’.
Cisem Staines explained that her family had lived in temporary accommodation for 11 years: ‘When they were offered the flat I told them it was a dump but my parents spent £20,000 making it nice.
‘We have had a leak from the fourth floor for a year and were without light in the bathroom for a month. ‘People do not want to move if they don’t know if they will come back and they don’t want it to be privatised.‘They like the fact that there is a bus and a school here.
‘The council say there will only be one offer and if we have to go private they will top up the rent.’
Many people around the estate who News Line spoke to said they thought there was a hidden agenda and anyone who works for Haringey Council has been told not to speak to the press. The report by the London Borough of Haringey states: ‘Neither Tangmere nor Northholt can remain occupied long-term as they are in their current structural state. ‘The presence of piped gas in Tangmere continues to pose a health and safety risk to residents. Tangmere failed structural tests, which means there is a risk of progressive collapse from an explosion caused by piped gas or from an explosion from a lower impact event such as a vehicle strike or bottled gas explosion.’
